Its body and wings are yellow with black lines. It looks similar to a tiger swallowtail but the color of yellow is more vivid and there are no black lines under the front wings. It is light black under the front wings. Old world swallowtail appears twice a year around May to June, and July to August. It appears in April in the warm place. You can see it from flatland and the top of highlands.

Old world swallowtail larva eats Angelica, water parsley, cones of water parsley and more. Unlike the larva of a tiger swallowtail, It has the black horizontal pattern with red dots in a row that it is beautiful. Moreover, it gives orange osmeterium. It stays the coldest season as a pupa.

You can see old world swallowtails sucking honey from flowers of Korean early lilac, azalea, dog's-tooth violet, false spiraea and more. It has a habit of sunbathing on the dry grass of the sunny place during the morning while spreading the wings [Text source: Doosan encyclopedia].